Happy Hallowe’en! 

(Healthy Hallowe’en?)

For many families the question of what to do with this spooky celebration is a loaded – and not just with sugar. There’s the fun, the creativity and the community vibes. There’s also the sugar highs, sugar lows, food reactions & immune system dives that can lead us into a not-so-great state for the fall and winter to come.

What’s a healthy family to do?

We asked our community of families for their favourite tips on making Hallowe’en a little healthier.

Here are some fun suggestions & themes brought to you by our Two Rivers tribe:

• The Trade Up: kids use candy as tokens to trade up for a cool toy they’ve had their eye on or get to go shopping for
• The Candy Fairy: she leaves cash in exchange for candy. Sweet deal.
• The Minimalist: keeping a reasonable limit on the number of houses visited is easiest for littlest trick or treaters
• The Protectionist: do you have a neighbourhood where parents pretty much agree Hallowe’en has to be a healthy week for all? Hook up your kids to those houses and it’s a win-win-win.
• The Altrusit: the Teal Pumpkin Project – we just learned about this and will save it for next year. Placing a teal jack-o-lantern on your doorstep means allergen-free Hallowe’en trick or treaters can enjoy safely!
• The Moderate: give out treats that are a step up from straight sugar – we’ve tried Veggie Sticks, Veggie Chips, and good old mini boxes of raisins (this is what we do at our place since we love participating and getting to know our neighbours and they’ve come to expect something a little healthier)

If you’re ghoulishly lucky enough to have your appointment on October 31st you might even catch your practitioners in costume -oo-ooo-oo-oo! (Don’t worry, we don’t dress too spooky, in the interest of being sensitive to our especially sensitive kiddos). See you soon—-ooo-nn!